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A Mother's Strength

May 13, 2018

How does one describe a mother’s strength? It can be loud, it can be quiet, it can be seen in the simple moments and the moments that rock our world. It is often hard to describe, but can be seen and felt by those around them.

This Mother’s Day we honor all the moms who stand tall and share their strength with others in the most difficult of circumstances. Here is the story of one such mother, Robin Carpenter, whose son Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter was injured in 2010 and awarded the Medal of Honor, as told by her husband Jim Carpenter.

You will not find any stronger advocates of the Fisher House than Robin and I. Everywhere we go, we’re always touting the Fisher House because, honestly, we lived in it for almost two and a half years — so we know firsthand the benefits and what it does for the families and the service members out there.

When Kyle finally arrived from Germany on that Sunday night, he came off that ambulance and I did not get a chance to see him. They took him up to ICU and, I don’t’ know, several hours up in the wee hours of the morning — two, three 3 o’clock — we finally got a chance to see him

I could not deal with it, I mean that was not my son lying there, that was not Kyle and it devastated me to no end and I had to be escorted out of the room. The nurses took me out. They didn’t take me out of ICU — they took me all the way out into the hallway. They put me in daddy’s time out. I was a basket case, all right?

But, I never will forget looking back as I left the room and Robin was up over that bed rail leaning down over Kyle and whispering to him. And I’m sure she was whispering to him, you know, “Hey, Mama’s here – it’s going to be OK. Everything is going to be all right.”

And, you know, Mama makes everything OK. We know that. And that was the beginning of his healing. Just as important as healing those shattered bones and broken and torn and burned skin is the emotional and mental healing as well. That’s just as important. And that was started right there.

And I couldn’t go into his room, until that Wednesday, until she finally made me go in there. And he knew we were there, deep in that coma — that, when she talked to him you could tell that his heart would go up on that monitor.

I finally went in there and I stayed on the edge of his bed a couple of days and I finally made my way up to the bed; I mean it was that difficult for me. But God made her strong for him until I had the strength to go in there.